TEAM NEWSChelsea - Spanish striker Fernando Torres is doubtful for the Blues with a knee injury, while their only other absentee is Marco van Ginkel, who is out for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury.

A WORD FROM BOTH CAMPSJose Mourinho, Chelsea manager: "They have a good team, good players. They know they can beat us because they did a few months ago. Alan's a good coach, they play well away from home so it will be difficult for sure. Do we dream of winning the Premier League? Of course. If we didn't we wouldn't play. Do we want to win the next game against Newcastle and to be there? Of course we do."

Alan Pardew, Newcastle manager: "It's an important period because we have got two really tough games. I think everybody would appreciate that - but we really do need to put a performance on the pitch that contains enthusiasm, desire and a real purpose, and that's what we are going to do. You have to defend well. They [Chelsea] need to find a way, and nine times out of ten, they do. We all want to see the game played on an even field, end-to-end, but you have to be careful when you are coming up against players of the quality he [Mourinho] has."